Archive for Energetic Swipe

Tonight I’ll be enjoying the NBA Playoff game between my beloved San Antonio Spurs and the LA Clippers. One way that the Spurs succeed is with ball movement. They make every pass to each other count, until they get the best shot, going from good shot to great shot. And it reminded me about my last visit to San Antonio, to appear on KSAT’s SA Live — and talk about making movements count.

I told Fiona Gorostiza on the program that HeavyWeight Yoga was created to give people who are overweight or affected by obesity a safe place to do yoga. People came from out of nowhere, from out of their living rooms, people who would never walk into a gym or a yoga studio. They’d say, “We read about yoga. We want those benefits. But there isn’t a safe place for us to come practice.”

I’ve created a safe place with HeavyWeight Yoga.

These methods make sure that every movement counts. Here’s an example. If I’m trying to stretch my hamstrings and I have both legs out in front, my belly and the tops of my legs come together, and the stretch is not being realized. If I recreate the pose and be sure there’s a space for my belly, by using the Energetic Swipe, I can come deep into the stretch and be safe all at the same time. And not be wasting my time.

With HeavyWeight Yoga, it’s never about the number of repetitions. It’s about your body being able to receive the work.

To do a HeavyWeight Yoga roll-up, I begin with my feet together and my knees apart. You’ll see by starting in that position that there’s space for the belly. My arms are out and my hands are staying parallel. I’m moving slowly in my pose, breathing the arms up and then overhead, then lowering to the mat. And then with the breath, coming up one vertabrae at a time. I’m using muscle, not momentum. In a gym, you’d be doing 10 crunches in an exercise, when I’m only doing three roll-ups. But my body’s getting a great benefit.